Earwing

Facts

IUCN EXTINCT (EX)

Facts about this animal

Its head-body length ranges from 11 - 13 cm, the ears are 12 - 14 cm, the tail about 1.2 cm long. The nasarium has a total length of 14 - 16 cm, and can be flexed at the deutonasal joint. Body-weight ranges from 38 - 51 g. Males are slightly larger than females.

The colouration of the fur is fairly variable. Usually, most of the coat is greenish-golden in colour, with a metallic-iridescent sheen.

The forelegs are used as prehensile grasping organs, the hind legs are totally degenerated; the tail is only partly degenerated.

The Earwing is the only snouter capable of flight thanks to its enormously enlarged ears and its nasarium which functions as a steering tail. But compared to other flying animals, Earwings fly backward. This is comprehensible when one recalls that the flight of Otopteryx has been derived from the gliding of the Hopsorrhines who leap backward. Especially peculiar and characteristic is the take-off and landing of the Earwings. The animal, standing on its flexed snout, first "cocks" its ears vertically then leaps upwards by extending the deutonasal joint. Shortly before the jump reaches peak height, the ears are lowered and raised again in a flying motion. The fully extended snout is spread wide and the animal flies. Great distances can be traversed at blinding speed, with the ears beating uninterruptedly at a rate of 10 strokes/sec. Along the slopes, in the usually breezy island winds, Otopteryx are also able to soar at length.

They form small colonies comprising harem groups of one male and up to four females, mixed-sex subadult groups, and single males.

Females give birth to one single young, following a gestation period of 62 days. There are two litters possible per year. Newborn Earwings are relatively well developed and until weaned, are carried clinging to the belly of the mother.

Earwings feed on dragonflies and hexapters, which they catch in flight.

Did you know?
That in 1941 a Swedish prisoner of war escaping from Japanese imprisonment eventually landed on the as yet undiscovered island of Hy-Duddify in the South Sea archipelago of Hi-Iay? What he found there was one of the most startling scientific discoveries of the twentieth century: An entirely new order of mammals, the Rhinogrades, commonly called snouters. The chief characteristic of these species is - as the name indicates - an extraordinarily developed snout.

Factsheet
Class	MAMMALIA
Order	RINOGRADENTIA
Suborder	MONORRHINA
Family	HOPSORRHINIDAE
Name (Scientific)	Otopteryx volitans
Name (English)	Earwing
Name (French)	Oreille-volant
Name (German)	Flugohr
Name (Spanish)	Oreja voladora
CITES Status	Not listed
CMS Status	Not listed

Distribution

Distribution
Range	Hi-Iay Islands in the Pacific Ocean
Habitat	Mountainous meadows where insects are abundant
Wild population	None, extinct
Zoo population	None reported to ISIS (2009)

In the Zoo

How this animal should be transported

For air transport, Container Note 81 of the IATA Live Animals Regulations should be followed.

Find this animal on ZooLex

Why do zoos keep this animal

Unfortunately all species of the order Rhinogradentia became extinct in the wild when a secret atomic test, 125 miles away, triggered a tectonic disaster, causing the archipelago to sink beneath the sea.

Some specimens of this order were captured before the disaster happened, and were kept by scientific institutions for research studies and by a few zoos for educational purposes. Ex situ breeding efforts were undertaken to ensure the survival of the species, but due to the lack of knowledge about the biology, behaviour, and husbandy of this species; all breeding efforts were unsuccessful and the last specimen of the order Rhinogradentia died in 1961.

Compounding the tragedy was the fact that at the time of the tectonic disaster, an international meeting was being held at the Darwin Institute of Hi-Iay. All the major experts in the field, along with most of their research material were lost. One of the few remaining manuscripts was a short monograph by Harald Stümpke: "The Snouters: Form and Life of the Rhinogrades.", first published in 1957.

How this animal should be kept

All efforts to keep this species in captivity were unsuccessful. The few specimen which were captured remained very shy and jumpy. Most of the Earwings died from rump injuries which they attained during flight or jump attemps.